Toddler Time 5-10-17: Friends

This was, very excitingly, my first storytime as a real live Librarian!

I started out with my standard introduction, which you can view here (along with the goodbye at the end).

Our theme today was friends, so we started out by talking about where we usually meet friends (the answer was mostly at home because their siblings are their friends, or at daycare/preschool), and what we like to do with our friends (play and eat, said the almost-three-year-olds). 

The first movement song of the day was "Hokey Pokey." The version in the video is not the one I use, but I feel like most/all versions of the hokey pokey are pretty similar.

Click here to listen to the version of "Hokey Pokey" that I use. 

After getting some wiggles out we listened to our first book, Bird, Balloon, Bear by Il Sung Na. This is a sweet story of friendship with just the right amount of words per page for toddlers to stay interested. 

For another momevent song, I played "It's Time to Stand Up" by Susan Salidor. This is a fun one to do with toddlers because just when they think they've followed the last direction, a new one is fired at them. It keeps their brains moving, and keeps them laughing the whole time. 

Next, because it's friend day, we sang an a capella version of "Happy and You Know It," substituting the word "friendly" for "happy." Each verse below is the full, usual verse of the song with some of the words substituted:

If you're friendly and you know it, clap your hands.

If you're friendly and you know it, stomp your feet.

If you're friendly and you know it, turn around.

If you're friendly and you know it, sit right down.

If you're friendly and you know it, clap your hands. 

I'll admit, I did trick a room full of toddlers into thinking we were still singing when they were, in fact, sitting down and getting ready to pay attention to a story. 

We read Hooray for Hat! by Brian Won.

With this book, we learned two signs and recalled one from our hello song. The repeating phrase is, unsurprisingly, "Hooray for hat!" So every time the characters said this, I had all the kids repeat the signs. 

hooray

hat

At the end, the phrase is changed slightly to "Hooray for friends!" and we recalled the sign for friends that I teach during the opening song. 

friend(s)

After that story, it was time to say goodbye until next time. Here is a list of books about friends that I displayed today.

• Will I Have a Friend?—Cohen 
• May I Bring a Friend?—DeRegniers 
• Best Friends—Nilsen 
• I Want a Friend—Ross 
• My Friend is Sad—Willems 
• Little Blue and Little Yellow—Lionni